RMIT University Student Union
Second quarter report Reporting period 01/04/2012 – 30/06/2012
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RUSU Volunteers help out at the weekly Chill ‘N’ Grill event at Bowen Street, City.
A note on our quarterly reports: Like everything RUSU does, our reports are a team effort. If it seems like this was written by 50 different people, it’s probably because it was! We are a unique organisation and our energy, teamwork and passion is communicated through these pages. We look forward to sharing our successes and near-successes with our student members and RMIT University throughout the year. For more information on anything contained within this report, please contact the RUSU Governance and Development Officer.
Second quarter report 2012
RUSU quarterly report: April–June 2012 RUSU activities and major events RUSU has continued to work hard this quarter to ensure that students from all campuses across RMIT feel connected and part of our student community. We have run numerous free and ticketed events both on and off campus over the previous 3 months and have done this thanks to the efforts of our fantastic student volunteer workforce. Here are the highlights:
RUSU Animal EOX/National Campus DJ Competition
RUSU Blacklight Party
• RUSU and VU joined forces to have a HUGE EOX (End of Exams) party • We used this massive event to host the Australian Association of Campus Activities (AACA) National Campus DJ Competition Grand Final “A great night, with great friends!” – Anthony Azar • When: 26 April 2012 • Where: Royal Melbourne Hotel
• RMIT’S comp finalist “Storm King” won the national final and will be performing at Stereosonic! • Huge industry names as DJ judges including Alison Wonderland from Sydney • RUSU filled 3 rooms of Roxanne Parlour with approximately 2000 students in attendance
• Theme: Neon/UV/Blacklight • Student Attendance: 1500 • Entertainment: Nice and Ego, Smoking Toddlers, Indian Summer DJ’s
• The theme was “animal” with many weird and wonderful costumes and the party included a silent disco, sponsored by Red Bull.
• FREE glowsticks & body painting
RUSU Regular Events These weekly free food events continue on all campuses, feeding students free, healthy, vegetarian lunches weekly and giving them a chance to connect with other students in a meaningful way.
RMIT Brunswick – Brunswick Barbie • Increasing student life at Brunswick • Tuesdays from 12pm in front of Building 514 • Free vegetarian friendly BBQ food to feed up to 300 students
Brunswick Barbie
• Environmentally friendly disposable goods, plus music, sunshine and a chilled out time • Run by 4 RUSU branded volunteers working towards LEAD accreditation • Promotion of up and coming events and campaign awareness
RMIT Bundoora – I love free food
Free food and good tunes Tuesdays from 12pm 514 Courtyard
• Thursdays from& 12pm, Building 204 outdoor courtyard Free BBQ & Free BBQ • Increasing student life at Bundoora and offering struggling summer cider summer cider Brought to you by RUSU Brunswick collective
Every Thursday 12pm
Student Union Courtyard Bld. 204 Bundoora West www.su.rmit.edu.au . www.facebook.com/RUSUpage . www.twitter.com/RMITSU . www.youtube/RUSUonline
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Everystudents Thursdayfree 12pm food Student Union Courtyard Bld. 204 Bundoora West
• Free summer Cider and free vegetarian-friendly BBQ food to feed up to 300 students
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• Environmentally friendly disposable goods
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RMIT Student Union
(And for the last time…) Bourke Street Campus
drinks are incredibly popular with international students and the PUP was demonstrated to be a key event in encouraging the many student cohorts at College of Business to interact. The May Pop up Pub was especially great for promoting RMIT’s Laptop Scholarship, in the lead up to the SAB move. • Movie Night – Over 30 Tivoli international students attended a free movie night and watched Men in Black 3 at IMAX. Soft drinks and snacks were also provided to the students as well as free tickets for RUSU financial members and $10 tickets for others.
RMIT Carlton Campus – More and more activities! This semester we said a fond farewell to RMIT’s Bld 108… and tried to send it off in style! • Pizza Lunch – By the end of first semester 220 free pizzas, 110 garlic breads and loads of soft drink given away at weekly free pizza lunches on Mondays. Over 80 students have been turning up each week to grab a couple of slices and the event has provided a great opportunity for RUSU to promote campaigns at Business. • Pop Up Pub – The final Pop Up Pub – Farewell to Tivoli on May 23rd was a huge success. Over 500 students turned up to toast Tivoli. This was the biggest Pop Up Pub ever! BBQ and soft
• Carlton Campus Pizza Lunch – Serves over 100 TAFE students with 40 delicious wood fired pizzas from a local pizzeria. • Carlton Donut Day – To help promote both the Save TAFE Rally and promote student engagement in the RUSU by-election, we served up over 200 delicious jam or custard filled donuts. Finger licking good! At 0.75 cents a serve, this is a cheap and popular way to feed a crowd! • Joint BA Textiles Society and RUSU Event – Fundraising BBQ, supported by RUSU – students raised over $1200 dollars towards their end of year Graduate Show. Sausage sizzles = fundraising gold!
RUSU By-Elections RMIT University Student Union
By-election polling schedule Monday 7 May 2012 Swanston St Bld 8.3 (Foyer)
10.30am – 3pm 5.30pm – 7.30pm 12 – 3pm
12 – 3pm
Carlton Bld 57.4 (Cafeteria) Brunswick Bld 514 (Foyer)
Wednesday 9 May 2012
10.30am – 3pm 10.30am – 3pm
Bundoora Bld 202 (outside Library) Bourke Street Bld 108.3 (Lounge)
Tuesday 8 May 2012
12 – 3pm
In April, RUSU announced a By-Election for the vacant positions of City Campus Coordinator, Clubs and Societies Officer and 2 x Alternate General Representatives. Following a competitive tendering process, OGL Group was appointed to run the byelection with Chris McDermott as the Returning Officer. Election Event
Time/Date
Notice of Election
Monday 16 April 2012
Nominations Open
Monday 16 April 2012
Ticket Registrations Open
Monday 16 April 2012
Ticket Registrations Close
Tuesday 24 April 2012
Nominations Close
Tuesday 24 April 2012
Notice of Nominations Received
Thursday 26 April 2012
Ballot Draw 9am
Monday 30 April 2012
Candidates statements and photos due
Tuesday 24 April 2012
Information session held
Noon, Thursday 3 May 2012
Polling Opens
10.30am Monday 7 May 2012
Polling Closes 3pm
3pm Wednesday May 2012
Counting starts
4pm Wednesday May 2012
12 – 3pm
Chris McDermott - Returning Officer: 0437 361 261
By-Election Results Clubs and Societies Officer – Luke Bouwmeester (Connect) Swanston Street Coordinator – Jesse Rose (Connect)
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Alternate General Members – Anthony Azar (Connect) and Yasmine Lintvelt (Connect)
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Second quarter report 2012 • 319 voters at Swanston Street were marked off the voters’ roll and cast votes in poll at the Swanston Street booth. • 71 voters at Bourke Street were marked off the voters’ roll and cast votes in the poll at the Bourke Street booth.
Introducing our new City Campus Coordinator – Jesse Rose I am studying a double degree in civil engineering and international studies. Within my program I have focussed my studies on water engineering, international development and Chinese language. I have been involved with a number of RUSU clubs throughout my time at RMIT particularly the Engineers Without Borders club.
• 113 voters at Bundoora were marked off the voters’ roll and cast votes in the poll at the Bundoora booth. • 28 voters at Brunswick were marked off the voters’ roll and cast votes in the poll at the Brunswick booth. • 69 voters at Carlton were marked off the voters’ roll and cast votes in the poll at the Carlton booth. Additionally: • 220 provisional votes were allowed. • 15 provisional votes were disallowed. • No postal vote applications were received.
I’m currently in my final year of study and felt that I could make a contribution to the university before I graduate by serving as a representative on the Student Union Council. I have been in the role of Swanston Street coordinator for a couple of months now and have enjoyed undertaking the various activities associated with it. City Campus Issues • There are a number of facilities that are not available to students within the recently opened Swanston Academic Building (SAB). These include microwaves, instant hot water systems and lockers. The only lockers available within the SAB are pay-peruse type units.
A note on voter turnout from the Returning Officer The number of voters was difficult to compare against previous years as a by-election has not been held at RUSU for many years. It should also be noted that the fact that there were only 2 office bearing positions available (one of which was only open to Swanston Street students to stand for and vote in), and two alternate general members, would have had an impact on the voter turnout.
• SAB issues have been repeatedly raised with RMIT staff. They have responded by saying that the facilities are available within the existing City Campus buildings and students studying in SAB can walk across if they need a microwave or hot water. We find this to be unsatisfactory as these facilities are already inadequate for existing students within the City Campus. • Private study spaces: Students are having difficulty finding places on the campus to undertake private study. Places such as the library are often stretched to their capacity, particularly for group study spaces.
Clubs and Societies A new approach to mid-year orientation 2012 Our Orientation Program is a key component of RUSU’s role on campus. RUSU has witnessed a lot of change around RMIT’s Orientation efforts and priorities and so has a depth of experience that gives us the confidence to try something new, to adapt our programs to best meet the needs of current RMIT students and the needs of RUSU itself. The change to RUSU’s participation in the RMIT Mid-Year Orientation Program focused our efforts on running our own Week 2 “RUSU Style” events with only basic RUSU services represented during the University’s Week 1 schedule of events. This change included having our clubs present at only the RUSU Style Mid-Year events. This change to the usual Mid-Year Orientation participation was influenced by club feedback on previous RMIT led Orientation events – that the Festival Days were too big, too spread out and not very focused. This aligned with RUSU’s own evaluation of the O’Week in Semester 1. A major concern was that Week 1 events
were not student driven, did not necessarily provide enough opportunity for the different campuses to develop programs to reflect the varying campus cultures or needs and weren’t really a lot of fun to attend. RUSU is also practiced at running events on the “smell of an oily rag” so, from a value for student money perspective, we were keen to trial our own program. RUSU firmly believes there is a need for the University to refocus its involvement in orientation on academic orientation; resolving enrolment and timetabling issues; students making those all important first day connections within their own program or cohort and just being confident that they know where their classes, the library and other essential academic services are. This is consistent with the 2012 to 2015 RMIT Strategic Plan focus on a students’ program cohort as being their primary connection at RMIT. There’s a place and time for fun and socialising – but we don’t believe the University has ever really connected with this idea and as such, RUSU aims to fill this gap with their own independent events for the orientation periods.
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RMIT Student Union
Mid-year Orientation RUSU Style
• 3 Clubs have lodged applications for Provisional Affiliation including the RMIT Bangladeshi Students Association, Landscape Architecture Body (LAB) and Pedal Pushers (bike focused Environment group based at Brunswick Campus) • It is expected that total Club numbers at the end of 2012 may be slightly under that of end of year 2011 (just over 100 Clubs). RUSU believes the quality and visible level of activities of these Clubs will be higher and the Clubs will be more committed to developing student life at RMIT. To view the full list of affiliated RUSU Clubs & Societies please visit our web site www.su.rmit.edu.au/clubs
The RUSU Style Mid-Year Orientation events followed our weekly campus activities program with a lunch time event held on each of the three major campuses; Brunswick, City (Bowen Street) and Bundoora. Free food, music, RUSU service and department information and 55 RUSU Clubs & Societies stalls were the basis of each of the events. • The most successful of the events was the City Campus day with 38 affiliated RUSU Clubs & societies participating. The event centred on the BBQ area of Bowen Street and was filled with tables, marquees and students. The majority of Clubs were provided with marquee cover at the event which not only provided clubs some protection from the weather but also presented a much more professional and exciting looking event space. We did not use the fanciest tables and marquees available but they did the job and we will be looking to extend this basic event infrastructure in 2013. • It was the general opinion that having RUSU Clubs on Bowen Street was more effective and accessible than having them placed in Alumni Court as is the usual positioning at University Orientation City Campus events. “Like the old days”, “This is what Uni’s meant to be about”, “Today feels like we are really at Uni” were a few of the comments overheard by staff. • The RUSU C&S Department would like to thank Craig King and David Howard from Property Services for working with C&S to develop wet weather contingency plans. This would have provided our Clubs with the capacity to move into the 8.4. Cafeteria if the weather had been horrendous. Thanks also to RMIT Link for allowing RUSU C&S to book the Link Mini Bus for to transport RUSU Staff, Reps, Volunteers and event equipment to the Brunswick and Bundoora RUSU Style Mid-Year O’Days. • The events at Brunswick and Bundoora campus need the most development. RUSU believes this will be assisted by the employment of our new Clubs & Societies Officer to work specifically with students at these two campuses. Our new C&S Staff member will focus on developing existing and new campus based clubs as well as supporting whole of RMIT Clubs to be more active outside of City Campus. This development will be further supported by the addition of a more effective and representative Student Union Council structure to include elected representatives specifically for the Brunswick Campus and TAFE cohorts from 2013.
Current Club Affiliations • As of the 2nd quarter, 83 RMIT Student groups have fully affiliated to RUSU as RUSU Clubs & Societies (75% more fully affiliated RUSU Clubs & Societies than at this time last year). • RUSU like to welcome VISAR – The Vietnamese International Student Association of RMIT as a brand new Club. We’d also like to welcome back, the RMIT Turkish Students Society and RMIT Ukrainian Students Society.
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Club Lockers (almost here) The C&S Officer is working with Property Services and Buzz lockers to (finally) provide RUSU Clubs with permanent Club lockers in 8.3. This process was delayed by uncertainty over access to second hand lockers in Bld 108 after the move of the College of Business to the SAB building. Now resolved, new lockers are being designed and existing lockers will also be refurbished. Club lockers will be available free to Clubs and will be administered through the RUSU C&S Department. Stay tuned for the C&S Lockers Launch Party…
Clubs Training and Professional Development RUSU’s first Semester Training Program for RUSU Club members included 4 sessions of Responsible Service of Alcohol and 3 sessions of Food Safety Level 1 training. These are certified courses and 46 RUSU club members received this training. Semester 2 Training will also include First Aid Training for key Club leaders.
RUSU participation in the TREV Professional Development Day In May, RUSU hosted a TREV (Tertiary Recreation & Entertainment Victoria) Professional Development Day. 30 Staff members employed in Activities, Student events, Sports and Student Clubs attended the day to discuss our industry, where our various institutes are at with the reintroduction of the Student Services & Amenities Fee (SSAF) and how this will impact upon the services we offer. RMIT, Deakin, Box Hill TAFE, NMIT, Swinburne, Monash, Holmesglen TAFE and VU were represented.
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Second quarter report 2012 The RUSU C&S Officer facilitated a session on student clubs – each institute gave a brief run down on the state of Clubs at their workplace, the number and type of clubs, the support offered to Clubs and the processes applied to the Program. We identified similar opportunities and challenges; for example, the need to develop more effective means of supporting cross-institutional club activity as many of us share the same clubs. This cross-institutional club activity is particularly relevant to our academic and cultural clubs which run a lot of activities with their counterparts at other Universities and TAFE’s. The challenge of providing more effective Club Programs for TAFE students was also identified as a key developmental issue – traditional Club Programs do not always meet TAFE student needs in a range of ways. VU is leading the way to develop a more effective cross institutional TAFE activity Program (mainly focused around social and competitive sports) hopefully to be based at the upgraded Western Bulldogs facility in Footscray. Greater planning keeping the TAFE academic calendar in mind is also being put into place to enable TAFE students to attend and participate in more TREV initiatives. A key focus of TREV is to combine activities across institutes that would be unable to offer such Programs on their own – for example, ski trips, competitions, music and dance events. The Clubs session also identified the need for organisations such as TREV and AACA (Australian Association of Campus Activities) to support greater participation by Club Program workers and student leaders in TREV and AACA. Another TREV Professional Development Day will again be hosted by RUSU during second semester and more Clubs relevant sessions to be incorporated into both the TREV and AACA Annual Training Conferences. It is likely that the RUSU C&S Officer will be a key organiser of these Club initiatives.
Ready or not clubs, here comes the SAB! The RUSU Clubs & Societies Officer has attended meetings around student needs at the new SAB Building (Building 80). In the old days, business based clubs used a dedicated room in Bld 108.4 but that was ”re-allocated”. Due to an ongoing issue with space and other infrastructure issues, College of Business based Clubs struggle to be active on campus. In the SAB, RUSU has tried to ensure Clubs based at SAB can access meeting and lecture rooms for club meetings and activities on a casual basis. The RUSU C&S officer is also meeting with marketing to coordinate RUSU Club access to the electronic noticeboards in the building as a means of promoting Club activity.
However… the big space squeeze at RMIT One of biggest issues for our Clubs (and RUSU generally) is the incredibly limited availability of event space at RMIT. Many Clubs want to host loud/boisterous activities including music and dance workshops however cannot because space is so incredibly unavailable. The improvement to the space at the Spiritual Centre will offer some extra space but not generally for “loud” use unless after hours. The RUSU Meeting Room (8.3.) is suitable for some loud activity but not, for example, a Japan Club Drumming Workshop (not so good with Student Rights consultations in next room). More social and activity space has been identified as key need for RUSU Clubs – too many events must head off campus and students are missing out on a chance to engage. In conclusion, student life needs more space – please consider our current and future needs in the Knowledge Hub development! For all RUSU C&S Enquiries, please contact either the RUSU C&S Officer (Staff) Jacqueline Out on jacqueline.out@rmit.edu. au or the RUSU C&S Elected Officer, Luke Bouwmeester at luke. bouwmeester@rmit.edu.au
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RMIT Student Union
Current RUSU Clubs & Societies
8
Academic Clubs
Cultural Clubs
1
RMIT Accounting Students’ Association (ACCT SA)
1
RMIT African Students’ Association (RASA)
2
RMIT Aerospace Engineering Students’ Association (AESA)
2
RMIT Australia China Youth Association (ACYA)
3
RMIT Chinese Students & Scholars Association (RCSSA)
3
RMIT Applied Chemistry & Environmental Science Students (ACESS)
4
RMIT French Club
4
RMIT Association of Chemical Engineering Students (ACES)
5
RMIT Indian Club (India)
5
6
RMIT Association of Pharmacy Students (RAPS)
RMIT Japan Club (Japan)
6
7
RMIT BA Photography Club (BAP)
RMIT Singapore Students Association (SSA)
7
8
RMIT BA Textile Society (BATS)
RMIT Sri Lankan Students Association (SLSA)
8
9
RMIT Basement Club (BASE)
RMIT Tamil Mandram (Tamil)
9
10
RMIT caliCo
RMIT Turkish Society (RTS)
10
11
RMIT Ceramics Students Association (Ceramics)
RMIT Ukrainian Students Association
11
12
RMIT Chinese Medicine Students Association
RMIT University Indonesian Student Association (PPIA)
12
13
RMIT Civil Engineering Student Association (CESA)
RMIT University Malaysian Association (RUMA)
13
RMIT Communication Design (COMMDES)
14
Vietnamese International Student Association at RMIT (VISAR)
14
RMIT Computer Science Info Tech Society (RMIT CSIT)
15
RMIT Economics, Finance, Marketing Students Association (EFMSA)
16
RMIT Environmental Engineering Students Association (EESA)
17
RMIT Fashion Design Society (FDS)
18
RMIT Furniture Technology & Furniture Design (FT & FD)
19
RMIT Geospatial Students Society Association (GSSA)
20
RMIT Gold & Silver smithing Society (RMIT G&S)
21
RMIT Graduate Engineering Association of RMIT (GEAR)
22
RMIT Graphic Design Graduate Exhibitions (GDGE)
23
RMIT Information Security Collective (RISC)
24
RMIT Interior Decoration & Design TAFE (RMIT ID&DT)
25
RMIT International Studies Association (ISA)
26
RMIT Manufacturing & Mechatronics Engineering (M&ME)
27
RMIT Master Business Administration Student Association (MBA SA)
28
RMIT Master Fine Arts Graduating Club (MFA GC)
29
RMIT Media Arts Club (MAC)
30
RMIT Medical Radiation Students Association (MRAD)
31
RMIT OPEN BITE Print Making Student Association
32
RMIT OSA (Optics) Student Chapter (OSA)
33
RMIT Postgraduate Gold & Silver smithing Student Association (PG&S)
34
RMIT Public Relations Society (PR SOC)
35
RMIT Racing Association (RACE)
36
RMIT Social Work Alliance Project (RMIT SWAP)
37
RMIT Wellness Society (The WELL)
Spiritual Clubs 1
RMIT Buddhist Society
2
RMIT Cantonese Gospel Ministry (RMIT CGM)
3
RMIT Chinese Methodist Christian Fellowship (CMCF)
4
RMIT Christian Union (RMIT CU)
5
RMIT Islamic Society (Islam)
6
RMIT Korean Campus Ministry (G4R)
7
RMIT Multicultural Student Fellowship (MSF)
8
RMIT Overseas Christian Fellowship Melbourne (OCFM)
9
RMIT Planet Uni (PU)
10
RMIT Student Life University Group (SLUG)
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Second quarter report 2012
Political Clubs
5
RMIT Australian Youth Climate Coalition (RMIT AYCC)
1
RMIT ALP Club (RMIT ALP)
6
RMIT Business Students Social Club (BSSC)
2
RMIT Greens
7
RMIT Chinese Debating Group (CDG)
3
RMIT International Students for Social Equality (ISSE)
8
RMIT Engineers Without Borders (RMIT EWB)
4
RMIT Resistance Club (RESIST)
9
RMIT Fair Trade Collective (RMIT FTC)
5
RMIT Socialist Alternative (RMIT SA)
10
RMIT Games Manga & Anime Society (GMAS)
6
RMIT Socialist Party Club (RSPC)
11
RMIT OXFAM
12
RMIT Refugee Action Collective (RAC)
13
RMIT Rubik’s Cube Club
14
RMIT Science Fiction & Gaming Association (SFGA)
15
RMIT Secular Society (SECSOC)
16
RMIT Students For Palestine (SFP)
17
VGEN RMIT (World Vision Youth Club)
Special Interest Clubs 1
RMIT AIESEC
2
RMIT Amnesty International
3
RMIT Asian Association (RAA)
4
RMIT Association of Debaters (RAD)
RUSU Welfare Collective Events • The Enviro Collective held their first clothes swap of semester on the City campus on April 18th. Students swapped, customised, and redesigned old clothes and accessories to give them new life and divert them from landfill. Swapping 1 suitcase (20kg) of clothes saves enough energy to run a TV non-stop for 1.7 years. • RMIT Postgraduate Association welcomed new members on April 17th at the John Curtin Hotel. Everyone got to know each other over a beer and some food provided by RUSU and discussed plans for the collective this semester. • RMIT Association of International students (RAIS) continues to provide International Food Day on Fridays to hungry International and local students alike. The collective are excited to be planning English speaking workshops for next semester, to offer students struggling with spoken English a safe and supportive opportunity to practice and be creative.
RUSU Womyn’s Department • Free soup to all RMIT students at 8.3 every Monday from 6pm – 8pm. Womyn’s has at least 5 volunteers each night to help with preparation and serving. We serve 40 litres of soup each night, averaging 200 cups to 150 students.
issues within the education sector and the country. The conference allows women students to assist (and/or seek help) other collectives in maintaining (or setting up) their own collectives at their respective Universities. The conference had a range of workshops from BDSM to yoga. The conference also had several speakers to inform students of their rights as a woman on campus and as a woman in Australia. We discussed issues of abuse, rape, and disability and ways to address them. One student from RMIT, who was the single ATSI person in the conference, raised the issue of not having enough (if any) Indigenous women student in the conference. It was resolved that each collective will find ways to encourage ATSI women participation in the Conference. The RUSU Womyn’s officer ran a workshop on the issues that South East Asian women face whilst living in Australia and to generate a discussion to extract solutions on how to encourage SE Asian women to participate in the women’s collective. • T-Shirt Printing Workshop – In preparation for the Mid-year Orientation, the womyn’s department organised a t-shirt printing workshop to create printed t-shirts for mid-year orientation.
• UKM delegates – 7 students from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (National University of Malaysia) visited the Womyn’s Department to discuss student volunteerism and how it helps students obtain future employment. We also discussed how student activism can help promote women’s right at UKM. • Potluck Thursdays – The last Thursday of each month members of the collective bring their favourite dish to share with other members of the collective. During this event, the womyn discuss issues of culture and religion – this allows students to develop a common understand, regardless of different cultural backgrounds. • Free Bread and Breakfast – In collaboration with Brumby’s bakery (QV), we provide free bread every Tuesday and Thursday to all RMIT students. • NOWSA Conference – The Network Of Women Students in Australia Conference is an annual 5-day event which gathers women students from all over Australia to discuss women’s
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RMIT Student Union
The Queer Collective go GAGA Lady Gaga Workshop (13 April 2012) Is there any other queer icon bigger than Lady GaGa? We celebrate our God(ga) by paying tribute to her outrageous costumes. Following our workshop we had food and drink and music! It was a gaga filled day and night! Overall it was a success to have collective members to come together and do what we do best. Be gay and excited about lady gaga. Weekly Queer Department Events • Monster Meeting Mondays – This is where the collective discusses any issues they have with the department; bring together any ideas for events or campaigns they want to do. • Tuesday Whine and Wine – A night where we gather and whine about life in a heteronormative society over wine • Thursday Crafternoons – We make craft like things with paint and paper. Great to stimulate our bored members (no pun intended!) • Talky Thursday – We put questions into a box and we draw them out one by one and answer them as a collective. These questions range from the light hearted to the serious. It is a great way to get opinions and questions out in an anonymous matter. Equal Love Rally (12 May 2012) Some members of the queer collective came down to march in the Equal Love Rally on the 12th of May. From the state library to parliament we marched with pride. RMIT Students Against Homophobia (IDAHO 17 May 2012) In honour of International Day Against Homophobia, held on the 17th of May, the queer department held this event to show that it is OK to be gay at RMIT. The queer department exists to be a visible and vocal advocate for queer rights on campus. We challenge discrimination, fight homophobia, smash stereotypes and flip our hair at hetero-normativity. May 17 was the day that homosexuality was removed from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1990. And to celebrate we gathered students and took a photo of them with our very sexy T-shirts printed with the words “RMIT Students Against Homophobia”. We also got you guys to sign our banner. Homophobia is not tolerated at RMIT and there are policies in place to ensure that queer students are treated equally. Regardless, we still experience oppression, we get stares and called names, some even offer to pray for us (thanks but no thanks). Even during our event, where everyone (queer and queer friendly) were excited and having a good time, we had passing students call us f*ggots and tell us that we were going to hell. It’s sad that attitudes like this still exist. It is important for pro-queer students and staff to show these students that they are in fact a minority at RMIT. Let’s make RMIT homophobia free! Pix from the event available on RUSU’s Facebook page or via the campaign Facebook page www.facebook.com/RMITolerant
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Second quarter report 2012
RUSU’s Student Media and Communications (www.su.rmit.edu.au) • Extensive maintenance has been carried out on our current website by our Media Officer, James Michelmore, and our Publications and Communication Officer(s), Francisco Fisher and Shana Schultz. Updates and amendments have been made to bring the website’s information and advertisements up to date with 2012. • Our Student Union Council members have been trained in performing simple updates to their department pages and posting relevant student events to our events calendar. • RUSU’s current website and membership database, developed by GeekIT has become out-dated and financially unviable to improve. As a result, the SUC has researched alternatives and approved a draft version of a new website and membership database system that will be developed by Trout. This new open source based website will provide many new features and capabilities that are not possible under our current restrictive system. In addition, our new website will be far simpler to maintain and modify to such an extent that RUSU officers will have the ability to personalise their department’s sections with relevant features, graphics and advertisements. The new website will also have analytics available so traffic and user interaction can be tracked and analysed to monitor and improve student interaction and satisfaction. RUSU will transition to the new website late in second semester 2012.
Facebook This year RUSU have made a significant effort to boost our social media reach. This essentially free medium of communication has proved invaluable for promotion of our news, campaigns, surveys, departments, clubs & societies and events. In the second quarter, our total number of subscribed users has expanded from around 2500 to well over 3000 with a daily reach of between 2000 and 7000 unique users. Our biggest external referrers have been our student union website (su.rmit.edu.au) and Google search results (google.com.au).
Our Media Officer has been continuing work to streamline our three Facebook pages (RUSU, Brunswick & Carlton, and, Bundoora) to a consistent look and feel. The inclusion of all our weekly events information in one location has had great positive feedback and has provided students with the ability to share these events online with their fellow students. The Facebook pages have also been successfully transitioned to Facebook’s new ‘timeline’ format.
E-Newsletter Using the popular mass-emailing client, MailChimp, RUSU’s Media Department and Activities Department have produced a fresh, new-look E-Newsletter for 2012. This newsletter is distributed to over 1,700 subscribed RMIT students. These fortnightly newsletters include news about current campaigns, upcoming student events, important student information and RUSU member giveaways.
Posters To further improve our media outreach, a group of student volunteers has been formed called the ‘Street Krew’. This group distributes our campaign and event posters and fliers on a weekly basis. The work of these volunteers has been of great help in effectively distributing and promoting our materials.
Noticeboards The use of our official noticeboards has increased this year with our increased poster push. Each campus now sports a colourful and updated noticeboard full of important RUSU news and events.
Internal Collaboration Our Media Officer has been working closely with both RMITV and Catalyst to ensure their workshops, events, important information and requests to students are promoted through as many avenues as possible. This includes promotion via our posters, website, social media, events, orientation week and more.
www.su.rmit.edu.au • www.Facebook.com/RUSUpage • www.twitter.com/RMITSU • www.youtube.com/RUSUonline
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RMIT Student Union
RMITV Introduction to Lighting The third of our workshops for the year was run by RMIT graduate, Anthony Rilocapro, and covered basic lighting techniques, run on April 18th. 20 people attended, 18 of these were current RMIT students, and the feedback indicated that many attendees would like this workshop to run for longer, or as a series of workshops. ABC Marngrook Footy Show Tour On Tuesday May 3rd, 4 RMIT students and RMITV Training Manager, Pamela Meagher, and RMITV Flagship Production Producer, Jessica Cook, attended a live broadcast of the Marngrook Footy Show at the ABC Studios in Elsternwick. After the broadcast our visitors were treated to a tour from RMITV & Deakin TV Alumni, Darcy Bonser. All who attended thoroughly enjoyed the evening – and we hope to run similar tours later in the year as many students were interested but unable to attend due to study commitments! Directing and Vision Switching Workshop This workshop was run twice on the 9th and 16th of May so group sizes could be kept down and each participant could gain hands on experience. The workshop was run by ABC News Director Ron Frim who ran participants through the use of the switcher and the role of the director. Feedback from the 22 student attendees suggested many wanted more time with Ron as they really appreciated his feedback and approach to training.
RMITV – New Flagship Production From the 8th of June this year RMITV’s new flagship production, Live on Bowen, began airing live to Channel 31 Melbourne on Fridays at 8.30pm. The hour long show got off to a shaky start, plagued by transmission issues in the second and third episodes but from episode four it was smooth sailing. Headed by executive producers Darcy Bonser and Lisa Sloetjes, the recently appointed RMITV Flagship Production Producer Jessica Cook and the crew of approximately 30 students, Live on Bowen has so far been a great success with writing and content management being returned to students. We hope the rest of the season is as good as the first four episodes have been and that our crew continue to enjoy the experience and develop further skills in all areas of television production.
Audio Workshop Run by RMIT Alumni Gunay Demirci, this workshop covered how to record audio on location and in studio, common microphone types, using a field mixer and troubleshooting, and was run on the 22nd of May. 14 students attended and feedback suggested again that students would have liked more time in the workshop and that they would also like to learn more about audio in post production.
RMITV’s Training Program RMITV’s Training program for 2012 continued this quarter, with the following Training Sessions being run: Producing Your Pilot With RMITV This workshop was run on the 3rd of April by RMITV Programming Manager, Rhys Tate, and covered the basics of producing a pilot episode with RMITV. Approximately 20 students attended the workshop and the feedback collected by RMITV Training Manager, Pamela Meagher, rated the workshop’s content and delivery highly – a great start for our Training Pilot Program! Introduction to Studio Operations Run by RMIT Alumni and dedicated RMITV tech-whiz Kye Lewis, this workshop took place on the 11th of April 2012 and covered each role in the studio and basic OH&S. 16 people attended in total, 14 of whom were RMIT students, and the feedback collected was generally positive, but many attendees reported they would like more hands on exercises as part of the workshop.
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Programming at RMITV March saw the start of Season 74 at Channel 31 Melbourne, with two RMITV productions included in the programming grid, Tough Times and In Pit Lane. Tough Times was shot in Studio A with a crew of approximately twenty students who were rotated across roles and provided hands on training by the show’s producer, Josh Mahoney. In March, motorsports show In Pit Lane returned to screens around Melbourne, broadcasting live on Tuesdays from Channel 31’s studio with approximately nine students involved across the season.
www.su.rmit.edu.au • www.Facebook.com/RUSUpage • www.twitter.com/RMITSU • www.youtube.com/RUSUonline
Second quarter report 2012 Season 75 began in June and saw three RMITV productions go to air – Bumper 2 Bumper, Live on Bowen and 31 Questions. Bumper 2 Bumper is RMITV’s newest motorsports show, produced and hosted by community member Russell Purchase with a crew of three RMITV students and airs from the 5th of June, on a Tuesday at 9.30pm. 31 Questions is RMITV’s newest game show, hosted by RMIT graduate David M Green, which had a crew of 18 RMIT students and provided further opportunity for RMIT students to take part as contestants. 31 Questions airs from the 9th of June on Saturdays at 10pm.
New RMITV General Manager Recruitment RMITV’s General Manager, Ruth Sayers, tendered her resignation, effective early June. As such, RMITV and RUSU have since been engaged in an in-depth recruitment process, with a new Manager to be appointed shortly. We would like to thank Ruth for her time and invaluable contribution to RMITV. Everyone at RUSU wish her the best in her future endeavours.
Catalyst Magazine This quarter has seen editions 2 and 3 of Catalyst written, designed released, with each well and truly “selling out”. The magazine has been getting consistent feedback that it’s a major improvement on previous years, in large part due to its attractive design, but it’s genuinely interesting to read, a true reflection on what RMIT students are thinking and feeling. Students are really engaging in the content – editor David Swan wrote a piece with a negative opinion on Occupy Melbourne for Issue One, and we received numerous ‘response articles’, of which we published two in Issue Two. In contrast to previous years, it’s a magazine full of opinions and debate, which keeps RMIT students interested in the broader social issues in the community. We’ve also got a massive number of contributors, and not just from Journalism and Media, but from across RMIT more broadly. We proud ourselves on the diverse opinion presented in the magazine, it’s not just a couple of voices on show but the voice of a whole University. We are thrilled by the regular RUSU content including a 2 page ‘Realfoods Recipes’ section in each magazine.
Catalyst’s Social media Catalyst are hitting new strides with our social media, taking on a social media intern to look after our Twitter page. We’ve hit almost 300 followers, and we post competitions and reply to any questions we might have from the students about contributions or a query they have about an article. Another cool feature of the magazine is QR codes, which readers can scan with their mobile phones to link to a website or app. We’ve featured a QR code for ‘Courtney’s Playlist’ in the magazine, which links to an online playlist of songs designed for the particular time of year the magazine comes out in. For issue two we had almost 1,500 hits on Courtney’s Playlist, proving that students are not only reading the magazine but truly interacting with it. Advertising revenue for Editions 2 and 3 • Edition two and three – $3200 per edition (Advertisements provided by RMIT University and Wisdom Dental) • Advertising Rates – back page is $2200, a full page is $1500, a half page is $800 and a third of a page is $500.
www.su.rmit.edu.au • www.Facebook.com/RUSUpage • www.twitter.com/RMITSU • www.youtube.com/RUSUonline
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RMIT Student Union
Volunteers RUSU’s Volunteer Program still growing! The RUSU Volunteer program continued to flourish in the second half of semester 1 with over 120 volunteers helping out across 5 campuses in a range of areas including Activities & Events, Student Rights & Appeals, Campaigns & Communications, Compass, Environment and the Realfoods Organic Café. Over 75 students received free training and accreditation including Responsible Service of Alcohol Certificate (RSA), Food Handling Certificate, Kitchen Skills Training and Mental Health First Aid Training. In addition to free training and upskilling, volunteers were treated to an exclusive party with lots of complimentary food and drinks and, most importantly, given a memorable opportunity to socialise with their peers from other volunteer areas and campuses. With another large intake of volunteers planned for Semester 2, coupled with the arrival of a Student Engagement Officer staff position to officially oversee the program, there is no doubt that the RUSU Volunteer Program will continue to grow.
RUSU Realfoods – bringing RMIT real food Open 11am – 4pm Monday to Friday (during semester)
Volunteering at Realfoods As part of the broader RUSU Volunteer Program, Realfoods is run by a regular group of 65+ volunteers. They complete 1 x 2 hour shift every week, alternating from Front of House to Back of House cafe duties. Extra volunteers go on our ‘Emergency Drop-in List’ or our ‘Events Team’. Volunteers receive a meal and a drink on the day of their shift and have their hours counted towards the RMIT LEAD Program, plus have access to other RUSU Volunteer Program incentives and rewards.
This quarter, volunteers received 2 x 3 hour hands-on cooking skills training, delivered at the William Angliss Culinary Institute. Approximately 32 volunteers attended this training, which was lead by a qualified, vegetarian chef with 20+ years experience. This training will continue as part of the RUSU Volunteer Program into 2013.
Volunteer feedback: “Thanks so much again for this semester. Love working with you.” “I really enjoyed helping out and getting an amazing meal after... haha!” (Winston) “Realfoods has been a really important place for me in getting used to uni and life in Melbs again.” (Lachlan) “... so glad it’s been helpful to you all. Keep up the great work you do. Anytime you need any help just give me a call. Happy to donate some time.” (Lucinda Macdougall – William Angliss chef)
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www.su.rmit.edu.au • www.Facebook.com/RUSUpage • www.twitter.com/RMITSU • www.youtube.com/RUSUonline
Second quarter report 2012
Student employment at Realfoods The 4 Realfoods Student Casuals continue to maintain their weekly volunteer shift, and are available for up to 7 hours per week for paid work when the co-ordinator requires. They are a valuable and highly necessary addition to the running of Realfoods, as their presence makes it possible for the Café Co-ordinator to have some dedicated time set aside to work on administration, events planning, rostering, catering enquiries and future planning.
special guest presenters Billy Simmonds ‘Mr Natural Universe’ bodybuilding champ, and living food chef Ace Rosengarten. About 15 RMIT student volunteers from Realfoods and RMITV assisted in the success of this event. For the first time also, Realfoods partnered with other health food brands who donated door prizes, and gave out samples.
‘Real Fit Food’ feedback “…It was a pleasure being a part of the event!” (Billy Simmonds, nutrition and fitness presenter) “…Thank you for inviting & having me as your guest… A night to remember!” (Ace, chef presenter)
Realfoods customer feedback this quarter
“Everyone loved the tea in the showbags. Thanks for organizing events and changing people’s lives. RMIT students are so lucky to have you.” (Joyce, attendee)
“Thank you for giving me a safe, affordable food option on campus. And such yummy food to boot!” (Ruth)
“…Entertaining demos and speakers, great food…” (Phil, attendee)
“Fabulous food. It is great that the cafe is introducing such healthy vegan, vegetarian and raw food alternatives to the students.” (Maureen)
What’s cooking at Realfoods for Semester 2
“Fantastic food! ... lots to choose from, but needs to be open longer hours! Needs permanent funding from RMIT, very important for their students to access such healthy and amazing food!” (Nick)
• Students of Sustainability Conference , July 7-8
“... Not only on the ‘fantastic food’ business (in fact, just had a veggie burger there that I think was probably one of the best burgers I’ve ever eaten), BUT definitely needs permanent funding. I’d actually like them to open up at a venue off-site as well. It’s some of the cheapest and best organic & vego food around.” (Romaine)
• Fairly Educated conference, July 27-29 • Real Soul Food cooking demo, August 14. • More volunteering opportunities (Note: if we can find a recipe from Realfoods, can you chuck it in here please, as well as the usual photos)
“Thanks for the delicious lunch when I was in Melbourne… I look forward to visiting again next time I am in town.” (Jen) “Your pizzas at Realfoods blow my mind!” (Marz) “You are the only organic lunch shop in the Carlton/CBD area I know of. I’m not even a student anymore and I’m still coming back. Why so hard to find non-poison food? ;( Well at least you exist. Keep up the good work! ;)” (Emma)
Real Fit Food – Cooking Demonstration at Realfoods The ‘Real Fit Food’ cooking and nutrition class was held on April 17 at Realfoods. Promoted as ‘an evening of delicious fresh food demos, cutting edge sports nutrition advice, and fighting fit fitness tips’ it was our most well-attended event yet, with over 140 students cramming into the City Campus Café to listen to our
www.su.rmit.edu.au • www.Facebook.com/RUSUpage • www.twitter.com/RMITSU • www.youtube.com/RUSUonline
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RMIT Student Union
RUSU Advocacy Service U
This service is key to RUSU’s existence at RMIT – only R SU can provide an independent and professional advocacy service to students. Our staff are experienced and provide advocacy advice via a number of channels including face to face consultations, basic advice provision from our information counters, contribution to and research around RMIT policy and legislative changes, student training and the development of student-friendly printed guides.
9
Debt Issue Resolved
4
10
Debt Remains
1
11
Discipline Committee – Student allowed to continue
1
12
Discipline Committee (student penalised/ appeal dismissed)
0
Cases created 2nd quarter 2012:
13
Email advice given to student
14
Exclusion withdrawn – by school
2
15
Informal Review of Assessment Resolution
0
16
Late Enrolment Achieved
2
17
Leave of Absence
1
18
Ombudsman Complaint Not Successful
19
CAC Appeal Against Assessment – Appeal Dismissed
2
20
PAC Appeal Against Assessment – Appeal Upheld
0
21
Pass by compensation achieved
0
22
Payment Plan request dismissed
1
23
Placement Issue Resolved
2
24
Plagiarism Meeting case – Dismissed Against Student
2
25
Plagiarism Meeting Case – Upheld Against Student
9
3
1
Admin Issue
2
Appeal Against Assessment
12
3
At Risk/Academic Progress
6
4
Bullying
5
Complaint
22
6
Disability
19
7
Discipline
8
8
Enrolment
15
9
Exclusion
16
10
Fees Issue
12
11
Graduation Issue
1
12
Online Enrolment Issue
1
13
Ombudsman Complaint
3
14
Payment Plan needed
1
15
Payment Plan refused
1
26
Plagiarism Meeting Case – Student Reprimand
7
16
Plagiarism
21
27
Recognition of Prior Learning Achieved
1
17
Problem with course advice
8
28
Recognition of Prior Learning Not Achieved
1
18
Refund/remission of debt
3
29
Referral Given – Counselling Service
19
RPL Issue
4
30
Referral given – DLU
4
20
Special Consideration
38
31
Referral Given – ISIS
2
21
Transcript error
2
32
Referral Given – legal Service
6
203
33
Referral Given – SLC
7
34
School level Complaint made – Outcome Successful
3
35
School level complaint made – outcome unsuccessful
6
36
Special Consideration Granted – Alternative Assessment
6
37
Special Consideration Granted – Deferred Exam Granted
9
38
Special Consideration Granted – Late Withdrawal
2
39
Student withdrew from services
2
40
UAC Appeal Against Exclusion – Dismissed
6
Total
Case outcomes 2nd quarter 2012:
16
11
1
Advice for letter given
54
2
At Risk Advice Given
2
3
At Risk Withdrawn (appeal against maximum time)
0
4
Complaint Resolved
2
5
Contacted Academic Administration – Issue Resolved
1
6
Contacted Head of School – Issue Resolved
2
7
Contacted Course Coordinator – Issue Resolved
8
41
UAC Appeal Against Exclusion – Upheld
8
Contacted lecturer/tutor – Issue Resolved
1
42
UAC Appeal Against Special consideration – Appeal dismissed
10
15
16 1
www.su.rmit.edu.au • www.Facebook.com/RUSUpage • www.twitter.com/RMITSU • www.youtube.com/RUSUonline
Second quarter report 2012
43
UAC Appeal Against Special Consideration – Appeal Upheld
1
44
University level Complaint Made – Outcome successful
2
Total
215
Cases created in 2nd Quarter 2012
203
Case outcomes in 2nd Quarter 2012
215
Appeal committees: • 4 Student reps sat on 12 UAC hearings • 4 Student reps sat on 6 Discipline hearings
RUSU Advocacy Service Feedback “We did it!!!!!!!!! yooohoooo!!!!! This is an amazing outcome!...” – secured fee waiver and extension to candidature for Masters student “I am, beloved Father of, a Saudi national who came to Australia to pursue his degree further but unfortunately had to discontinue due to some unpleasant incidents. I am very happy and satisfied with the results that you have achieved for his case and undoubtedly believe without you it could not have been possible. I hereby sincerely and wholeheartedly thank you for same. I am sure just a “Thank You” is not enough but please note that you would be in our memories for ever and ever.”
• Compass volunteers continued with their shifts this quarter, providing a great direct practice learning opportunity for the volunteers, who are all from Psychology, Social Work and Youth Work courses. New volunteers have now completed their training and are ready to beginning in Semester 2. • The Student Well Being Yoga Program continued over the City, Brunswick and Bundoora campuses. The Brunswick class will be re-assessed over the break due to poor turn out, however the other campuses remain busy. • Stress Less Week was held over all 5 Melbourne campuses and was a wonderful success (despite the rain). Over 1500 students came along for free water, fruit, stationary and mini massages while being given the opportunity to have their student rights questions answered. This year RMIT Counselling piggy-backed on the event to advertise their mindfulness workshops as another way to de-stress over exam time. • The RMIT Mental Health Working Group, which aimed to map mental health services across the campus, came to an end this quarter with the hope that a new staff position will be created to deal with issues relating to support for students with a mental health issue.
ABOUT YOUR STUDY, CENTRELINK, HOUSING, HEALTH, RELATIONSHIPS, OR ANYTHING ELSE...
“The matter has been solved now & I am permitted to sit for the test. The coordinator found out that students should be permitted to sit for consideration test as long as they have made timely contact with relevant body such as concerned lecturer. Thank you very much for willing to handle my case. It’s organisations like yours that give hope to students in times of hopelessness.” “By the way, thank you very much for helping me. Really appreciated....I have someone to listen and kindness to international student like me.” “Actually after I met with you, my heart and worries are coming down. Thank you very much for your kindness.” “Thank you very much. You saved me and my wife from our depressions, worries, sadness and lot of stresses. I would like to say again our heartfelt thanks which is not going to the end of our THANKS that until the end of the world.”
The Compass Welfare Drop-In Centre The Compass office was closed for a month this quarter. However, we still responded to a solid number of student drop-ins and ran two major events. Here’s what Compass achieved in the second quarter for 2012: • There were 42 student drop-ins over April and May, with the office remaining closed for the whole month of June. Cases of mental health, finance and housing remain strong concerns for students. • Lets Talk About Sex Day was massive with hundreds of students coming along to hear some sexy comedy and eat vagina cupcakes whist learning about safe sex from RedAware. RedAware campaigns to bring young people together to take real action and prevent the spread of HIV & other STIs – and they also do an awesome dental-dam demonstrations.
INFORMATION REFERRALS SUPPORT
Even more RUSU Student Advocacy and Welfare Activities… • New Student Rights Caseload policy developed to improve Student Rights internal processes and maximise high quality assistance to as many students as possible. 30 minute appointment times in peak periods trialed. • RUSU Contribution to policy recommendations about increasing access and participation of students experiencing disadvantage, made to state and federal government as a member of the National VET Equity Advisory Council • RUSU scrutiny and feedback to the Academic Registrar’s Group – currently providing in depth feedback on assessment policy overhaul led by Kai Jensen. We aim to highlight and amend inequities, inconsistencies, misleading information and policy gaps that negatively affect students experiencing difficulty with their studies.
www.su.rmit.edu.au • www.Facebook.com/RUSUpage • www.twitter.com/RMITSU • www.youtube.com/RUSUonline
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RMIT Student Union • RUSU point of contact staff attended Mental Health First Aid training. • RUSU ran 3 training sessions for new Student Rights Volunteers on the 2nd, 3rd and 12th of April. These volunteers will assist in running awareness raising campaigns and workshops, as well as sitting on decision making panels in student appeals to the UAC, CAC and discipline board.
• The Campaigns and Collectives support officer attended training on June 6th at Women’s Health Victoria on Advocacy in Health Promotion. This session focused on developing an advocacy action plan in not for profit organisations, including targeting, goals, analysis and strategy.
RUSU Campaigns Update • On May 30th RUSU launched a new awareness raising advocacy campaign targeted at staff members – ASK (Advocacy Service Know how). We hope that this resource will assist new and existing RMIT staff members in navigating student/staff relationships and, ultimately, will ensure that RMIT students receive consistent and accurate support. This quarter, ASK is putting the spotlight on Special Consideration, offering FAQ’s, policy and procedure explanations, useful resources and up to date information. • RUSU continue to campaign around student experience issues with the new Swanston Academic Building, and work with RMIT staff to minimise impact on transitioning Business students. • This quarter our first point of contact staff members attended training in order to better assist students with inquiries about the Bring Your Own Device scheme. • We have been busy promoting the SAB Equity Laptop Scholarship at our events and in the open access computer labs in building 108 with the help of our Campaigns and Communications Volunteers. • RUSU have also been in contact with the RMIT Bookshop, advocating on their behalf for a retail space in the SAB. • On May 24th RUSU representatives met with RMIT Health Promotions to discuss strategies to address safety issues related to the Swanston Academic Building and the Bring Your Own Device scheme. Ideas discussed included Mid year
Orientation session from the Victorian Police on safe travel and avoiding theft on campus, free laptop engraving, and OH&S and safer use of laptop information to be included in student orientation information. • On June 29th RUSU attended a meeting with representatives from the ARG Assessment Policy Working party, and student members from the SEAC and Policy and Programs Committee. Addressing issues with Assessment related policies is one of RUSU’s main priorities for this year and we will be launching a new campaign next quarter. • RUSU has been approached by staff members concerned about the absence of parenting, baby change, breastfeeding and expressing facilities in the SAB. We are keen to work together on a campaign to improve access to facilities for staff and student parents.
RUSU at TAFE RALLY – EPIC FAIL TED! Brunswick and Carlton TAFE students were represented at the NTEU and AEU TAFE4ALL rally in the Treasury Gardens. The changes proposed by the current state government will have significant impact on students at both campuses and so it was important for the student union representatives to get out there and show there support. The images of the protest placards held by RMIT students and RUSU representatives and staff made it on to news bulletins, news papers and social media. This promoted the cause and the student union as an organisation that stands up for students rights.
RUSU Admin and Finance Update There has been an increase in the number of student rights and general enquires coming to the RUSU info counters this quarter. This quarter has seen: • The winding down of the Bld 108.3 RUSU info counter and offices. The move, due to occur in August 2012, is being coordinated by the Tivoli Student Liaison Officer and the RUSU Governance & Development Officer. • The Brunswick and Bundoora info counters continue to provide students with: »» Free book binding »» Emergency sanitary and sexual health supplies
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»» Discounted movie and public transport tickets • RUSU security overhauled – with the assistance of Sai and the security team, we have moved onto a swipe card access system for external doors on the city campus. A new key system was also implemented. • RUSU equipment tested and tagged this quarter. • RUSU I-drive mapped and document archiving completed. • Transfer to g-mail required additional liaising with ITS to coordinate move and proxy access accounts. • RUSU Membership in 2nd Quarter – 96 new members
www.su.rmit.edu.au • www.Facebook.com/RUSUpage • www.twitter.com/RMITSU • www.youtube.com/RUSUonline
Second quarter report 2012
RUSU’s SSAF Funding 2012 • $ 2, 046, 931.00 Total to be provided in instalments as follows: • $ 147,222.00 on the first day of the month from January – May 2012 inclusive • $ 187,260.00 on the first day of the month from June – December 2012 inclusive* In order to meet legislative requirements, RUSU has altered its previous financial reporting to reflect the need to match expenses with “allowable items”. In 2012, the financial reports are best presented as YTD, rather than quarterly, as previously reported figures may have needed to be amended due to coding issues and an evolving understanding of the SSAF legislation. The overspend listed below can be attributed to the seasonal need for increased expenditure on activities and services during the semester periods – the expenditure for the ‘holiday’ months offsets this overspend. Allowable Item
Item Description
Giving students information to help them in their orientation;
• O’Book operations, honorariums, publication (online and print) and distribution
YTD Expense $26,301.00
• Membership incentive program • Membership engagement, communications and marketing Upgrade and Maintenance of online communications including website, e-newsletters, social media integration • Orientation specific events Caring for children of students;
Nil
Providing legal services to students;
Nil
Promoting the health or welfare of students;
• All activities and events from advocacy and welfare collectives: Queer, Womyn’s, Post-Graduate, Environment, Welfare, Education
$85,049.00
• Campaigns, events, programs, marketing Helping students secure accommodation;
Nil
Helping students with their financial affairs;
Nil
Helping meet the specific needs of overseas students relating to their welfare, accommodation and employment;
• All activities and events from International student department
$9,297.00
Helping students obtain employment or advice on careers;
Nil
Helping students obtain insurance against personal accidents;
Nil
Helping students develop skills for study, • Induction programs/Student Representative Professional by means other than undertaking courses Development of study in which they are enrolled; • Volunteer Program + program staffing
$49,078.00
• Student Union Council Elections • Secretariat Honorariums • All of SUC campaigns • Campaigns staff support Providing libraries and reading rooms (other than those provided for academic purposes) for students; Supporting the production and dissemination to students of media whose content is provided by students;
Nil
• RMITV operations, honorariums, special projects, productions, training, website
$72,382.00
• Catalyst magazine operations, student honorariums, publication (online and print) • Communications/Graphic Designer Staff
Providing food or drink to students on a campus of the higher education provider;
• Campus specific events and marketing
$88,459.00
• Activities and Events collective including administration, student honorariums, marketing and staff support • RUSU Realfoods
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RMIT Student Union
Allowable Item
Item Description
Supporting a sporting or other recreational activity by students;
• Major events and intervarsity recreational activities and competitions
Supporting an artistic activity by students;
YTD Expense $104,058.00 Nil
Supporting debating by students;
• Grants paid to RMIT or Chinese Debating clubs (or any future debating club)
$0.00
Supporting the administration of a club most of whose members are students;
• Administration, grants, equipment and support to student run clubs and societies
$90,078.00
• Clubs and Societies Staff and other support • Student Initiative Grants Advising on matters arising under the higher education provider’s rules (however described);
• Administration and Support staff members: Administration, Governance and Finance
Advocating students’ interests in matters arising under the higher education provider’s rules (however described);
• Student Rights Officers
$177,586.00
• 5 x Information counter staff and operations $196,964.00
• Student Advocacy materials, campaigns, research and training for staff and student representatives on committees
YTD SSAF Expenditure
$899,250.00
YTD SSAF Grants Received
$883,332.00
Overspend
$15,918.00
*The increased monthly grant amount has not been received yet as the Grant Deed is yet to be formally signed off by RUSU and the RMIT Dean of Students Owen Hughes. Until this time, the ‘old’ grant amount will continue to be received.
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